New Delhi: The World No. 2 Iga Swiatek qualified for the third round of the US Open after surviving a fightback from Suzan Lamens in New York on Wednesday, August 28. She cruised through the opening set but was pegged back by the Dutch underdog, who won the second.
The Wimbledon champion was visibly frustrated by her opponent’s efforts, but held her nerve in the third set to win 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to seal the match in just over two hours. The Cincinnati Open winner entered the match with a six-match winning streak and made a strong start, winning the opening set with breaks in the second and sixth games.
She also made a stunning start in the second set, earning a break point in the third game. Swiatek was leading by a set and a break, and started to struggle after that. The Polish international blew her first break of the second set, and then earned another one, but blew it again.
After recovering from two breaks, Lamens secured her third break of the set in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead, and then she confidently served out the set in the next game. Swiatek made a stunning comeback in the deciding set, winning four consecutive games to go 4-1 up. She blew one break and also missed out on a match point on Lamens’ serve in the ninth game, but she held her nerves to close out the match on her serve in the 10th game.
‘It wasn’t an easy match’: Iga Swiatek
After the match, Swiatek said it wasn’t an easy match for her and she made some mistakes, but she was happy that, in the end, she could be more proactive.
“I felt like it depended on me and whether I was going to make mistakes or not. It was not easy, but the third set is a reset. You’ve got to start from the beginning and I knew I could play a little more precisely, so I just tried to do that,” she added.
She will face No. 29 seed Anna Kalinskaya for a spot in the US Open round of 16. The Russian defeated Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-1, 7-5 to qualify for the next round.